They do stretches and calisthenics. Of modified jumping jacks he says, "We will begin and end together. If we don't end together, Michael, what happens?"

"We do 'em again," Michael answers.

"A big part of the discipline is just doing the same thing over and over again," Rose explained later. The discipline will bleed out from karate to students' lives.

On to fighting techniques. What part of the fist is strong, what part weak. The importance of punching from your center. Falling correctly to avoid injury.

Blocks, punches, kicks.

"These stances are uncomfortable at first," Rose says. "You'll get used to them. Without proper posture you will not have power, no matter how big you are, no matter how strong you are. Your power comes from the ground."

Rose knows young people dream of Kung Fu superpowers. Of chopping an adversary into Jell-O. He teaches that violence must be a last resort.

"I teach things like verbally de-escalating a situation. The difference between being attacked and a victim and self-defense, as opposed to verbal escalation into a fight. They need to understand that."

In fact, if you know you can beat your potential assailant and you allow a fight to erupt, a fight you could have averted, you are the bully, Rose teaches.

Wisdom.

As for violence, "You have to basically show them the reality of it. There's so many ways it can go bad for you morally, legally."

Rose is giving of himself as a mentor and role model.

"They come back and ask questions, even about other things," Rose said. My first karate teacher was a very big part of my life, a big part of how I made decisions."

Still, it's a tough town, and when a fight is unavoidable, karate provides the skills to deflect blows and to strike back - hard.

"When we're doing karate, I want it to hurt the other person as much as possible," Rose says at one point.

And at another: "Step back. Like you're going to punch him, see? Like you mean it. It's karate, it's OK."

Sign up for karate class by calling (209) 937-8248 or emailing ivan.rose@stocktongov.com.